


Flame In the Desert

by waddiwasiwitch



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Royai Week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 15:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7177022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waddiwasiwitch/pseuds/waddiwasiwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started with the Hawkeye family taking in a young alchemist and culminates in two killers meeting again in the desert.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flame In the Desert

**Author's Note:**

> Here is another angst fest. Prompt for Day 6 "ignite" from Royai Week 2016 on Tumblr.
> 
> I own nothing you recognise. Some dialogue has been taken from Episode 30 in Brotherhood: The Ishvalan War of Extermination.

**Flame in the desert**

The war is over at last, but Roy Mustang finds little joy in even that. He can hear the giddy celebrations of his fellow soldiers and all he feels is disgust.

Every day in the desert was the same. His fingers snapped as he followed orders like a good dog. 

That wasn’t what he signed up for. 

“But alchemy should be used for the people shouldn’t it?”

How naive he was? He wanted to protect his country, but the Ishvalans were Amestrians too. Why did they have to slaughter their own people? The only countrymen or women he succeeded in protecting were those in his unit. 

The stench of death still fills his nostrils and the desert sun blazes down on him. He flicks sand off his uniform. 

Sand gets everywhere out here. He finds sand in his mouth several times a day, it sticks to his skin, gathers in his hair. And there’s so much dust and ashes.

Ash to ash. Dust to dust.  
In the end that’s all humans are. 

One is all and all is one.

He should have listened to his master : “Soldiers are left to die like trash at side of the road.”

“I’m sorry Master Hawkeye,” he whispers, looking down at his hands. 

They should be coated in blood, but flame alchemy is clean - safe murder from the distance. He knows exactly how much control is needed now to burn, to immolate and to scar.

“Can I trust you Roy with my father’s research?”

His master’s daughter was wrong to trust him. So wrong. She has seen his crimes now, how he’s abused her gift. 

She should hate him for it. He certainly hates himself for his weakness. 

She said she wanted to make a difference. Were his foolish dreams responsible for bringing her into this hell too? 

_Damn this war. Even Riza Hawkeye has killer’s eyes now._

Having her here reminds her of the boy he used to be, and he’s not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse. Because he doesn’t feel like a man anymore; he’s a monster, a human weapon. 

Flame - that’s all he knows now.  
He’s not Roy Mustang anymore; that boy with dreams for protecting his country is burnt beyond recognition - charred remains are all that’s left.  
He’s a soldier waiting to be pointed at the next target, because he’s sure that there will be another if they let it happen. 

“Why do you fight?” he asked Hughes once.  
“I want to live,” Hughes replied.

The answer was simple, but Roy knows he should have run rather than let them make him into this desperate creature.  
But where could he have run to?  
Or he could have refused to follow such inhumane orders from his superiors.  
Maybe then he would have been executed for treason during wartime?  
Foolish worthless excuses he knows. He was simply too much of a coward for that. 

Fuhrer Bradley towers above them all and Roy makes a decision. 

“The power of one man doesn’t amount to much, but it doesn’t matter. What little strength I have, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the people I love. And in turn, they’ll protect those they love. It seems like the least we tiny humans can do for one another.”

He can try and learn to be a man again.  
He can do it for the boy he once was and for the girl whose dreams he burnt to ash. He can see she carries the weight of his sins too.  
He can try to make a difference for those he loves.  
Most importantly, he owes it to those he murdered to try to ensure that something like this never happens again.

_I’m going to be Fuhrer._

**Fin**


End file.
